Ascension says Florida hospitals, clinics are open amid cyberattack. Here's the latest

Ascension announced late Wednesday afternoon that all its Florida Sacred Heart and St. Vincent’s hospitals, physician offices and care sites are open and operational amid an ongoing ransomware cyberattack that brought its systems down Wednesday.

Its teams are utilizing what the health care system calls downtime procedures in the meantime, which the company says are “predefined steps that all health care organizations follow during a system or network failure.”

These procedures involve many manual processes, such as moving to paper records and manually processing clinical processes that include dispensing medication, inputting medical records, ordering and completing diagnostic tests and procedures, contacting patients and securely sharing information.

Here is what Ascension patients should know as the health care system continues to investigate the cyberattack.

I have a doctor’s appointment at Ascension. Should I still go?

Yes. Unless your hospital or doctor has reached out to reschedule an appointment specifically, you should still plan to go to all planned appointments as usual.

Ascension says that all of its Sacred Heart and St. Vincent’s Medical Group doctor’s offices are up and running during normal business hours and that all scheduled appointments are proceeding as planned.

Ascension patients should expect longer wait times

Due to hospitals operating under downtime procedures, patients should expect longer waits than they might be accustomed to.

To help expedite the process, Ascension is asking patients to bring with them notes on their symptoms and a list of current medications (including prescription numbers or bottles).

Ascension Rx retail pharmacies can’t fill prescriptions

Ascension’s RX retail pharmacies are not able to fill prescriptions with its systems down. Customers should reach out to their provider to have prescriptions filled at another local pharmacy.

Ascension urgent care and walk-in clinics are open

All of Ascension’s urgent care centers and walk-in clinics are open. Like its hospitals, these facilities are operating under downtime procedures, so patients should expect longer-than-normal wait times.

What to know about Ascension surgeries

Unless your doctor has contacted you, scheduled elective surgeries will continue as planned. Ascension care teams will contact any patients whose surgeries may have been impacted by the cyberattack.

What about diagnostic imaging and other tests?

Imaging, testing and treatment are being offered, though patients may experience some delays.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Ascension cyberattack: Florida hospitals, clinics open. What to know